Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv troops retreat from key eastern town as Moscow conducts nuclear drills
Kyiv’s troops ‘cannot hold what is ruined’, says battalion commander
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Ukraine has pulled back its soldiers from the outskirts of eastern Chasiv Yar town where they are losing territory to Russian forces.
Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 255th assault battalion, which has been fighting in the area for six months, claimed the Russians burned every building not destroyed by shelling after capturing the neighbourhood.
“I regret that we are gradually losing territory,” he said, speaking by phone from Chasiv Yar, but added, “we cannot hold what is ruined”.
He said Russia is using scorched-earth tactics in an attempt to destroy anything that could be used as a military position in an attempt to force the Ukranian troops to retreat from the strategic town.
Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. The intensity of the Russian strikes on Ukraine’s defensive line in the area has increased over the past month, Kyiv said.
As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces were carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.
Putin says he would prefer Biden to Trump
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said his preference for Joe Biden as the next US president remained unchanged.
Asked by a state television reporter whether Mr Biden or Mr Trump was better, and whether his publicly stated preference for Mr Biden had changed after the debate, Mr Putin said: “Nothing has changed.”
“Did we not know what could come? We knew,” he added.
Putin has several times said that he feels Mr Biden is preferable to Mr Trump, even after the US president cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB” [son of a b****].
Zelensky sends American Independence Day message
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has used American Independence Day to stand up for his own country’s independence.
Wishing Americans a happy 4 July, he wrote: “We understand what independence means to you, Americans, and you can see that it means the same thing to us, Ukrainians...
“True independence is always the result of won battles, and freedom must be reinforced with victories every time tyranny attempts to destroy it.
“Different generations of Americans and Ukrainians have witnessed this firsthand, and it is critical that current generations pass on a sense of confident independence and guaranteed freedom to their children and grandchildren.”
In pictures: A town destroyed
Chasiv Yar was left in ruins even before Ukrainian troops retreated:
Symbols of tradition, hope and healing
Flowers have taken on extra significance in Ukraine since the war began. In case you missed it:
A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine
Flowers have always been linked with Ukraine’s culture but since Russia’s 2022 invasion, their significance has only grown
Russian missile kills one person and injures seven in Odesa
A Russian missile attack killed one person, injured seven and damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, the regional governor has said.
Oleh Kiper did not specify exactly where the strike occurred but he said port facilities and administrative and other buildings were damaged.
In pictures: Destruction in Donetsk
Belarus prisoners freed
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has freed at least 10 political prisoners, rights campaigners said on Thursday, including a veteran opposition figure suffering from cancer.
But the rare pardon still leaves some 1,400 people behind bars for political activity, most of them arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted on a range of charges related to alleged extremism.
Human rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been freed. The only one named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition party leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced the following year to 10 years in a penal colony after being convicted of plotting against the government to seize power. Following his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Activists said their happiness at the releases was bitter-sweet.
"This is a very great joy, of course, almost childlike. But it is joy through tears - there is anger too for what people have to go through," said Inna Kovalenok, a representative of a relatives' group that campaigns for the release of prisoners.
Mr Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus's liberation from the Nazis in teh Second World War. State news agency Belta said it was expected to apply to about 7,850 prisoners including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.
Russia launches forces recruitment drive in Africa
Moscow is turning to a new mercenary group to train paid fighters from across the continent. In case you missed it:
Putin’s forces launch recruitment drive in Africa to fight war in Ukraine
Moscow is turning to a new mercenary group, Africa Corps, to train paid fighters from across the continent to fight its war in Ukraine
Tally of wounded in Ukraine rises to 19
The number of people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern, eastern and southern Ukraine on Thursday has risen to 19, local authorities said.
A woman was killed and a man was wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Two civilians in the southern city of Kherson were wounded in a drone strike, the local administration said.
Russian bomb on village kills woman
An elderly woman has been killed and eight people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern and southern Ukraine, local authorities said.
The woman was killed and a man wounded by a guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Seven others were wounded in the town of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, governor Serhiy Lysak said. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Both the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions have been subjected to attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, but thousands of people have been killed and wounded.
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